Go ahead and call me a silly romantic but I believe in everlasting love. I enjoy hearing stories of how couples met and I get teary-eyed whenever I see an elderly man and woman walking hand-in-hand. So I needed a box of tissue today when I discovered on Kickstarter this inspiring photography project (which you can help fund) called Love Ever After:

Inspired by the discovery of her grandparents’ love letters, Lauren Fleischman has spent the last three years photographing and interviewing NYC-area couples who have been together for over 50 years. The resulting collection will make your heart warm and eyes misty: a series of visual love letters that prove, no matter who you are or where you’re from, we can all relate to a little thing called “love.”

“April 14th will be our 68th wedding anniversary. That’s right, you heard it! Friends ask me how I managed to get someone like Jean. So I have one expression. I prayed well.” Abe Small, March 2, 2011.

“We met when we lived in China. I was on vacation in another town and we only saw each other for three days. We lived very far apart and so, when I returned home, we sent letters. At that time we didn’t even have a telephone! We wrote letters each week but it took about 20 days for our letters to reach each other. We did this for five years.” Jin Lin Chen, March 15, 2011.

Sam and Grace Goldstein photographed in Midwood, Brooklyn Grace: “We met Labor Day weekend in September and he proposed to me two weeks later on my birthday. He took me to a French restaurant. My father and my brother and my sister objected because I didn’t know him that well but instinctively as a Libra I felt that he was the right person. So they objected but I felt that it was the right thing. My feeling was that if I made a mistake it would be my mistake and I’d only have myself to blame. If I didn’t marry him and I didn’t meet anyone else that equalled the way I felt for him I would always blame my family. So I took it upon myself to say yes.”

“Everyday my wife expresses her love for me. She says, did I tell you how much I love you today? Everyday. Everyday she says that.” Moe Rubenstein, August 24, 2008.

On Thanksgiving Monday I attended the 159th annual Rockton World Fair. The sunny weather reached a record high as thousands of people flocked to see the horse show, cow milking and sheep shearing demonstrations, baking and quilting competitions, tractor pull and … Continue reading →